Reliance Retail hires professionals from Thailand
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New Delhi: Having already hired at least 10 people from Thailand's Tesco Lotus in key roles, Reliance Retail is now expecting to hire around 20-25 more from Thailand in the coming months to run its value formats, reports the Economic Times. The Thai professionals will be heading key functions such as operations, commercial, IT, supply chain and HR. ET had reported last month that Gwyn Sundhagul, former Chief Marketing Officer and Director at Tesco Lotus, has joined as CEO of value formats at Reliance Retail. Titima Bantrapiwat has joined as Head of Supply Chain and Sansahee Kubena has come on board as Head of HR. "We engage with global and domestic talent in line with requirements and identified gaps across levels in the organisation. We would not like to comment on any specific appointments," a Reliance Retail spokesman told Economic Times. Meanwhile, K Radhakrishnan who was heading value format and Ratan Agarwal, Head of HR for the value format, have left the company. Raghu Pillai who virtually ran the show as President for strategy at the value format has been shifted to the Chairman's office to oversee alliances and joint ventures. Many of these Thai professionals are being hired on the company's payroll, while others are being brought in on limited-term contracts. The incoming team has been mandated to study the company's systems and processes closely, identify the gaps and suggest remedial measures, said another person familiar with the retailer's plans. Reliance has been in talks with various global retail chains for a strategic partnership. ET had reported on its talks with French retail chain Carrefour to establish a partnership in the value retail business. The infusion of foreign talent is happening in the division that runs the so-called value retail formats - Reliance Super and Reliance Fresh and Reliance Hyper. Value format stores accounts for more than 70 percent of the company's revenues.

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